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How To Take The Pressure Off Yourself

One of the most powerful concepts that I’ve learned in this chapter of my life is the idea that there is no such thing as failure. Perhaps there are some that might argue about this but for me, the concept that it was okay to make mistakes, to not get “it” right, to skin our knees was absolutely freeing.

But recently I’ve also started thinking that failure’s shadow – success – might also be in need of a rethink. Just as the possibility of failure might keep us in situations that don’t serve us or make us feel ashamed, setting ourselves impossibly high standards of success to achieve can also keep us from trying.

In the podcast I talk about how to reframe the concepts of success and failure and also offer up three concrete ways of doing this. I also mention that before the podcast I fueled myself up with a vegan brownie that I made without any refined sugar, dairy,eggs, butter or wheat. Here’s what it looks like and honestly, if I gave it to you, you’d never guess it was anything but loaded with forbidden stuff. It’s actually a superfood which thrills the you know what out of me. My husband and I started eating this way about a year ago – focusing on removing wheat, refined sugar and dairy

I got the basics of the recipe from The Minimalist Baker – so check it out there for specifics on sizes. For the brownie part I soaked a bowl of dates for hours (I forgot about them so I probably over did it but they were very soft which is what you want). I drained them, mashed them by hand (my food processor just konked out) and then added in raw cacao powder. Rather than the almonds and walnuts that the original recipe called for, I added in a bit of almond flour. We always have a steady supply of it because we make our own almond milk.

Oh my, I’ve become “that” guy! 😉

So anyhow, mix it all together til you have a good batter. Have a taste. Sweet right? Chocolatey right? Seriously, dates are a wonder food. Add some chopped walnuts to it and then spread onto a small lined baking dish and stick in the fridge.

For the topping, I also improvised because I didn’t have any chocolate as called for in the original recipe. I melted coconut oil and mixed it with some almond milk, raw cacao powder and a little maple syrup. I put it in the fridge to thicken but that didn’t happen so I just poured it over the brownies and then topped with walnuts. At first this topping didn’t look too appealing – maybe the almond milk wasn’t necessary – but when I served it for dessert a few hours later – I just kind of stirred it a bit – and it was fine. Actually it was more than fine, it was delicious. And the next day, the topping looked fine. I will try the original recipe frosting again next time I make these as that could be a whole other world of OMG but for now, the small bit of maple syrup is as far as any processed sugar went in this recipe and apparently, that’s okay to use according to those who are in the refined sugar movement.

I hope this week’s podcast inspires you to let go of those made up goal posts of success and failure. Take it from me, sometimes, making a good, healthy brownie is enough!